The Rural Voice, 1999-03, Page 16Robert Mercer
BSE and BST a political relationship?
I he \tuusta•) of Agriculture.
Fisheries and Food in England made a
real hash of handling the outhreak of
I3S1. in the Late 1980s. \1uch can he
learned fn.n► this experience on how
not to handle .t disaster situation. In
.lune of this year the Puhlic Inquiry in
the UK into the outbreak of BSE. will
hand down its conclusions.
One of the most alarming
possibilities of the BSE crisis is that
no one knows the correct average
incubation period of the human
equivalent that has caused the loss of
life. The first case of the human
deri‘ati‘e mCJD was identified in
mid-1995 and deaths from this
problem have run at about 10 per year
attributed to eating meat from cows
infected with BSE.
The Public Inquiry in England has
heard from the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that
such le\els and patterns of disease do
not necessarily mean that they cannot
increase. If the incubation period of
the disease in humans is 20 - 25 years
Iand no one knows %\ hat it is) then
mane people exposed to the disease
could he only halfway through the
period at this
time. Thus it is
possible that a
more realistic
infection rate has
yet to surface.
A costly
corrective action
has now been
taken. even if too
late for some, but
it should have
occurred much
sooner and with
less emotional
and financial
cost. the inquiry
has been told, if information available
had been released when requested.
It was correct to slaughter animals
imported to Canada and it was correct
to blitz the industry in the UK when
the crunch came. The early delay,
however. saw more animals exposed
Public opinion
played role in
BST ban
COMM
CONSTRUCTION LTD.
We do it all - design, engineer & build
Broder Barn for Cor Van Tol, Mount Forest. ON
Whatever your Building Needs - Big or Small
You Know Domm Well Who to Call!
• Agricultural • Residential • Commercial
IDEAS
DOMM WELL BUILT!
Phone: 519-665-7848 AYTON Fax: 519-665-7895
12 THE RURAL VOICE
w the disease and thus costs mounted
and are now estimated close to $5.8
billion (U.S.) by the year 2000. These
estimated costs do not include the
staggering financial hit taken by the
beef and dairy industries from the
marketplace. Beef exports to Europe
were halted and consumers backed off
the product. These exports have
recently been resumed, but consumer
confidence is not back where it was.
As mentioned the costs to human
life, the marketplace and the slaughter
program could have been much lower,
as the Public Inquiry has been told, if
MAFF had not been so obstructive
and secret about making information
available to both private University
researchers and the Department of
Health.
The fact that UK farmers ignored
the ban on using cattle feed made
from meat and bones of other cows
helped prolong the outbreak and
spread the incidence of the confirmed
cases of BSE. These cases ran as high
as 30,000 to 345,000 a year through
1993 and 1994. By 1998 the disease
in cattle is reported to be "nearly
wiped out" at less than 2000 cases in
the first 11 months of the year.
What has been learned from the
preliminary hearings is that as science
and technology increases our
knowledge in one aspect, it can
diminish our understanding of side
effects in another, where technology
has not kept pace with the original
changes.
The final findings from this BSE
Inquiry will be pertinent to agriculture
worldwide as government policies
thrust us towards globalization and
free trade.
The fact that Canada has turned
down the registration of BST for dairy
cattle is significant. It may be seen by
some as a decision that is more
political than scientific but it is still
the right decision. This is because the
approval process for all animal -
related drugs must be cleared by some
other agency than that whose function
it is to serve the interests of farmers
rather than the general public.0
Robert Mercer was editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter and a farm
commentator in Ontario for 25 years.